Twisted Time
by Supreme.Empress.DragonGirl
Summary: Ten years have passed. Thirty-year-old Rose Tyler lives an ordinary, uneventful life in South London. She rides the bus to work every morning, and home every evening. She lives alone. Or, at least, that's how it should be...
1. Chapter 1

_Ten years have passed. Thirty-year-old Rose Tyler lives an ordinary, uneventful life in South London. She takes the bus to work every morning and home every evening. She lives alone. Or at least, that's how it should be..._

_But, as we all know, things don't always turn out as they're supposed to. The reality is, there is no Rose Tyler. She doesn't take the bus to work every morning and home every night, she doesn't live alone, and she certainly doesn't live an ordinary, uneventful life._

_In reality, if one has done as many things as Rose Tyler had done, has seen as many things as she had seen, the things one has seen and done make it very hard for anything to be ordinary again._

_Particularly when one has done something like what Rose Tyler did._

Strange things, often terrifying things, surrounded the Doctor. He made sure that anyone who decided to travel with him was well aware of that. It wasn't his _fault,_ of course. It was just one of the things that came with being the last of the Time Lords and the protector of the whole universe.

Right now, strange things were happening that even he couldn't begin to understand. There were footprints where there shouldn't be footprints, troubles that were resolved before he got there to resolve it, trails through time that he hadn't left. These traces were like signatures, someone taking some great, otherworldly pen and signing their name to their work.

He'd only seen this one time before, and it hadn't really been anything like this. Leaving the past a message was different from actively repairing the timestream. The strangest thing about it, however, was that he was just as busy as he'd been before.

"If I'm still working as hard as always," he said to Leta as he stood next to the TARDIS by the edge of the city, "and someone else is coming in and fixing up time, then that means there's a lot more trouble than there used to be."

"Sounds like you should be grateful for the help," Leta observed. "If there's enough trouble to keep two protectors busy, it's probably way too much for one to handle."

"I know," he said, frowning. "It's just strange, that's all. It doesn't make sense. At least I _try_ to cover my tracks. It's as if—as if this person _wants_ to be found, _wants_ to be followed."

"And is that so strange? Maybe whoever it is likes danger. You like danger. In fact, I've never understood why you don't sometimes let the aliens hunt you down when you're bored, just for the sake of having something to do."

"I have more dangerous enemies," he said cooly. "And besides, it would be stupid to do that. I'm not thick, unlike whoever's doing this. They _have_ to be thick, to leave such glaring trails behind—oh, now, that's not very nice, is it?"

"Nope," she said. "It's usually rude to call someone thick, you know."

"Yes, well..." He frowned and thought. then shook his head. "Check out the city. find out what you can. I'm going for a walk."

"Fantastic," Leta muttered, just loudly enough that he managed to make it out. "All the aliens chase me."

"Stop whining," he said amiably, and walked away towards the cliffs.

As he walked along the edge that fell into the sea, he stumbled, quite by accident, on something else strange. It was in the form of a girl, standing on the cliff, her hair lifted by the wind. A girl who, by all the laws he had thought he'd known, should not exist.

She was facing away, looking out at the sea, but he was sure he knew her. Suddenly, she turned. She saw him, and her narrowed eyes wen wide. Without another glance, she ran along the edge of the cliffs until she reached the city.

He ran after her, but when he reached the street, she was gone. Simply gone, not as if she'd hidden, but as if she'd vanished off the face of the planet.

He looked around, walked up to a woman, and asked, "Have you seen a blonde girl, not quite as tall as I am?"

The woman shook her head. He sighed and thanked her, then walked down the street, thinking. Where had she gone? She couldn't have just disappeared. Unless he'd only imagined her...that seemed likely, as she shouldn't even be here. Unless he was here, somewhere else. But he'd never been here before, which meant that even if he _was_ here, she shouldn't be. Unless he was going to go back, get her, and come here where he _had_ been before.

"Oh, fantastic," he muttered. "Now I'm just giving myself a headache." He ran his fingers through his untidy hair and was so distracted that he walked into a girl carrying groceries.

She fell and spilled the groceries. "Watch where you're going!" she snapped. "Now I've got to pick all this up!" She began to do so, then stopped and looked at him as though sizing him up. "Hold on..."

She let the apples she'd picked up fall to the ground and slowly moved her hands so that her arms were crossed. Her eyes flicked from his messy hair to his long nose and down to his shoes.

"Oh, dear," she said quietly. "I don't think that was part of the plan."

"You don't think what was part of what plan?" He was curious, now.

"You're the Doctor."

"Yep." He looked at her, frowning. "Hang on, how d'you know that?"

"The shoes give it away," she said. "No normal human being is crazy enough to wear Converse with a suit." She paused. "And you're hair's messy enough."

"That's all very well, but—how do you even know who I am?"

"I've got to go," she said suddenly, as if realizing she'd said something she wasn't supposed to. Hastily, she stuffed all the groceries back in the bags and picked them up. "Good-bye."

He ran after her as she walked quickly down the street. "Hang on!" She didn't even glance back as she turned. He came to the corner of the street and looked around.

She had most definitely come this way, but she was nowhere in sight, even on an empty and very straight street.

He sighed. This made no sense. People didn't just know who he was—he tried to keep his identity quiet. And people _didn't_ just vanish into thin air. As much as he tried to make it work, it wouldn't.

He was still trying in vain to puzzle it out when he saw her again, the impossible girl, the girl who had absolutely no right to be here, let alone to be here looking exactly as he remembered her. She was standing there, facing away, next to the TARDIS. Her hands were against the side of the ship. He was even more sure that it was really her.

"Hello?" he said, alerting her to his presence. She whirled and pressed herself against the TARDIS, her eyes wide. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but only lowered her head. He saw she was biting her lip and she glanced up at him again, her eyes filled with some unimaginable pain. Then she spun on her heel and dashed away. He didn't bother to chase her. She was gone.

"And, she's gone again," he said. "Why did I even say anything?" He pulled out his key and stepped into the TARDIS.

Several minutes later, he heard the door open. He couldn't see it, as he was under the console, fixing things that weren't broken to begin with. "Hello?" called Leta. "Oh, you're down there. Is the TARDIS not working?"

"No, the TARDIS is fine," he called.

"What's wrong, then?"

"Nothing's wrong?"

"Come off it. You only go down there when the TARDIS is broken or when you're thinking about something. Find out anything interesting on your walk?" He saw her trainers and the cuffs of her jeans appear as she sat on the edge of the opening in the floor.

"I don't know. I would say so. Would _you_ consider a girl who shouldn't be here and should look ten years older interesting? Or one that I've never met but she knows I'm the Doctor because of my shoes? Both of which just disappear?"

She whistled through her teeth. "Interesting sounds like an understatement."

His Chuck Taylors vanished, and a second later he climbed up out from under the console. "It is." Leta had to laugh at him, he looked so funny. He had a scowl on his face and a smear of something blue and shiny across one cheek. Not to mention all his hair sticking up at odd angles.

"So, tell me more." She kicked her feet and looked at him curiously. If there was anything she loved about traveling, it was the beyond-interesting experiences.

"Well, I was walking along the cliffs, when I saw someone I thought I knew—have I told you about Rose Tyler? No? She used to be my companion, a while ago. Sweet girl. Anyways, I thought I saw her, but then I couldn't think how that was possible, because not only should she be on Earth, a normal woman, but she should be about thirty, and she looked like she was still nineteen." He ran his fingers through his hair, which made it worse, not better. "She saw me and ran off. I chased her, but she vanished into thin air. Literally. Then I ran into this girl carrying groceries, and she looked at me and told me I wasn't part of the plan, then told me that my shoes gave me away and walked off. She vanished too."

Leta raised her eyebrows. "Just vanished? Just like that?"

"Yep. No sign of them. And the grocery girl vanished on a perfectly straight and completely empty street that she most _definitely_ turned onto."

She grinned then. "Did you even breathe during that whole speech?"

He grinned back. "Nope."

"You should probably breathe now."

He nodded, took a deep breath, and launched straight back into his rambling. "Honestly, though, it doesn't make sense. Then I saw her again—the one I thought was Rose—standing by the TARDIS. I said hello, and she stared at me, then ran away again. I'm getting more and more confused, because if she really was Rose, why would she run away? But then, who else could look so exactly like her? And I was trying to think how she might have gotten here, and all I could come if with was that I'll go back and get her and I'll be here now with her for some reason...but if she's with me, then why was she afraid of me? Unless by then I will have regenerated." He thought about that. "But she should still recognize me. Strange, isn't that. But either way, it's no good to have two of me wandering around." He took another deep breath, beamed, and finished, "And, that's all."

Leta laughed. "So, what's the girl-who-might-or-might-not-be-Rose look like?"

"Well...like Rose. Blonde hair, a little shorter than me, uh...oh, never mind. Hang on." He ran down the hall and came back a moment later with a picture which he was careful not to look at. "Here."

She took the picture. The Doctor was standing next to a pretty girl who fit the description he'd just offered. She was laughing, the tip of her tongue showing between her teeth, swiping playfully at him as snow fell around them. He wore an orange paper crown and was grinning ear to ear. She had bits of silver tinsel in her hair.

Leta looked up at the Doctor. His face was empty, but his eyes were shadowed with the ghosts of a past she couldn't begin to imagine.

"I'm sorry," she said. He didn't answer, just looked at her. "You really miss her."

There was a pause, a few seconds of silence, before he bowed his head.

"I'll go find her," she said. "Wait here. If you wander into the middle of things, you'll ruin it."

He nodded and didn't look at her. She saluted and marched out of the TARDIS, checking first to make sure she had some money.

Leta was going grocery shopping.

**A/N: Oooh. Mysteriosity. Yay!! This one, I have an idea where I'm going with. Like it? Dislike it? Review and tell me!**


	2. Chapter 2

Leta took after her father. She looked like her mother: slight of build, pretty but not incredibly so, though she had her father's dark hair. But her mother didn't have the fighting spirit, the cockiness, the tough attitude.

People didn't look at Leta and think she was dangerous. People looked at her and thought she was your average girl, who wore more makeup than was strictly necessary and was a lot braver with her boyfriend—the one she didn't actually have—behind her. A person might even look at her and think she was helpless.

That was their undoing, if that person happened to be her enemy. She wasn't as vicious as her father, but she was still more like him than anyone. She didn't scare easily, and her not-girly purse held not only her money and her (energy-enhancer spiked) lipstick, but also her paralysis blaster, her sonic pen, and her stunglasses.

She was a lot like the Doctor, too. Maybe that was why he'd chosen her, out of everyone in the world, to travel with him. She wondered if Rose Tyler was like that, too. Caring, brave, continually filled with awe and respect and admiration for every species out there, every form of life (except perhaps Daleks). She wondered if Rose, like both herself and the Doctor, was a bit...undomestic.

Domestic was most certainly not a word used to describe Leta, or her father, or the Doctor. Ever. Period. So it was quite unusual for her to be doing something as ordinary, quiet, unexciting, and, yes, _domestic_ as grocery shopping.

Of course, she was always the one who did the shopping when the TARDIS food supply ran out.

That aside, grocery shopping was exactly what she was doing. It was true that they _did_ need some real food, but that wasn't the real reason. Really, she was walking down the street carrying more food than she could easily carry with any comfort for the sole purpose of it getting dumped on the ground.

Another curious thing about Leta was that she had an incredibly accurate memory and a vivid and, if possible, even more accurate imagination. One look at that picture and she would remember Rose Tyler's face for the rest of her life. And just from that picture, she could get a pretty clear idea of what the back of Rose's head would look like.

And when she saw a very blonde girl in jeans and a sweatshirt, she knew it was time to put her plan into action.

She half-ran up the other side of the street and crossed. The girl was _definitely_ Rose. Same eyes, same hair, same face shape. No way it was someone else. Unless it was a really, _really_ good shape shifter. Or a clone. Or Rose's long lost twin sister. Whatever.

Leta stepped into Rose's path. Rose saw her, but she was walking quickly, and had no time to turn away. Leta fell, spilling groceries across the ground.

"Oh!" said Rose. "I'm sorry!" She began helping pick up the spilled food.

"Oh, no, it's my fault," Leta apologized, turning all of her considerable charm on. "You don't need to help me."

"I shouldn't have run into you. I'll help, whether you like it or not."

Oh, yes. She was _definitely_ like the Doctor, at least in the area of being stubborn.

It took them nearly ten minutes of crawling on the ground between everyone walking around the streets before they got everything. When they'd finally finished, Leta stood up and picked up her shopping bags. "Thank you, Miss. I'm Leta, by the way. Who're you?"

Rose hesitated. "Leta?" She frowned in thought, then began speaking softly. "I'm always running, all the time. Running for my life. I have been for twelve years. Danger follows me, until I turn and face it. Sometimes I negotiate, sometimes I flee. Sometimes I manage to save them all. Usually, I can't. Once, a long time ago, I cried for every one I couldn't save. Now, I have no more tears to shed for them, so I bury the bodies and move on. More often than not, I have no choice but to fight. That's who I am."

She began walking, and beckoned for Leta to follow her. "I'm the girl who stood tall and brave and unmoved while people were slaughtered around me, but I'm the girl who broke afterwards, when no one was watching, and cried until I couldn't cry anymore. I'm the girl who didn't have anyone there to comfort me. I'm the girl who killed, not one time, one evildoer, but hundred of them. I'm the girl who wondered who they were, if their families would miss them, if they were really evil or just misguided. I'm the girl who stopped wondering, because I couldn't kill them if I remembered they were real people, too. That's who I am."

She stopped, turned to face Leta. "I love the rain. I go out in a thunderstorm and dance and laugh, but I'm crying when I do, and it's like the sky is crying too. I used to hate cherries. Now I love the taste of them, but I won't eat them, I can't. I look up into the night sky and see more then you have ever seen there, more than you ever will see. I can sense the whole universe, Leta. The movement of every planet, every star, every galaxy. Did you know that galaxies move all the time, always? They never stop. And I know it, and I love it and I hate it at once. I can feel it all, to the edges of the universe and to the center. I know everything, everywhere, and when I think about it it drives me insane. It makes me feel so tiny, so helpless, so insignificant. My heart is breaking, every breath I take, every second I live. I look into the night sky and I feel alone."

She turned away. "That's who I am, Leta. That's what I am. I'm aware, _painfully_ aware of every heartbeat on every planet, in every solar system, in every galaxy, in the whole entire universe. Every life. I know how long forever is, because I've seen it. I've seen the end of it. Some people call me Bad Wolf, or simply Wolf. That's who I am."

Leta bit her lip, thinking. "You seem...different. Sad. Older."

Wolf, who should have been Rose, looked at her. "Who are you, Leta?"

"I'm just a girl," said Leta. "I've always been different. I've always known that there was other life. I'm a lot like a friend of mine. I'm a lot like you, but happier. I can't feel the world turning, orbiting and flying through space, but I know that it is. I'm the girl you used to be, Wolf. I'm the girl who doesn't feel the movement of the universe, who wonders who the enemies I fight are. I'm different from you. I'm the one who knew to begin with not to shed those tears, not to think about those lives. I'm the girl who knows someday, I'll look at those stars, and I'll see them for more than every other human does because I've _been_ there, Wolf. I've _seen_ it. I've done this for five years, now, and I still don't believe it. Did you? Do you, even now?"

Wolf looked at her. "You're a lot more like me than you realize. Neither of us is really the girl we look like."

Leta nodded.

Wolf leaned against the wall behind her. "So, what are you doing on this side of town? The shop is all the way over there." She gestured at the sunset.

"I—er—got lost."

"Where are you going? You want some help?"

Leta grinned. "Does—never mind." Her smile faded slightly. She always told the Doctor how strange it was that he could feel the world turning under his feet, but he could get lost. She'd been about to ask if it made it easier, but she decided against it. "Well—er—I'm looking for this big, ah, box."

Wolf's eyes suddenly flashed golden, and sorrow crossed her face. "So that's how you know so much."

"This box, it's--"

"I know." She started walking quickly. Leta followed, sorry to have made Wolf upset. Wolf didn't speak until they reached the end of the street where the TARDIS was waiting.

"Listen, Leta," she said that, turning to face the other girl. "When you see the Doctor, tell him..." She thought, and remembered the little café on the corner of Oak Heights Avenue and Storm Trail Lane. "Tell him, "Corner of Oak and Storm." Will you do that for me?"

"Yes," said Leta, and there was something in her eyes that Wolf had to trust. "I'll tell him."

"Good night, Leta."

"Good night."

As Leta turned and ran towards the TARDIS, Wolf watched her go. She was so innocent, so trusting. Did she know that she was going to be left behind, eventually? Would she come to realize, in time, that it was because he cared that he had to do it? Wolf had realized it. Would things be different, now? Now that she was a protector? Now that she would live forever?

_Five years, she said,_ she thought as she turned away and walked down the street. _Five years now. He's taking them younger these days._ She walked quickly as the final rays of sunlight went out and the streetlamps came on. _She can't be much older than twenty—she must have been, what, fifteen when she joined? Sixteen? Young. And I'm sure I've heard her name before, I just can't for the life of me think where..._

The Candlelight Café was well-named. As Wolf approached, she saw the candles in the window being lit, casting their warm glow across the street. She entered the little coffee shop and sat down at a table next to the window, looking out over Storm Trail Lane. She sighed softly, watching the flickering flames.

The other chair at the table was pulled out with a scrape, and Sarali sat down. "Hey, you alright?"

"I'm fine." She wasn't, really, but she had become a lot better at hiding her emotions. It helped that she had no tears left to shed, that she was numb to the pain by now.

"Sure." Wolf smiled a little. She knew very well Sarali doubted she was fine, but that was normal. In some ways, in Sarali's mind, Wolf was never fine. Sarali wasn't quite as naïve as Leta, but she had no idea what Wolf had suffered.

"Oh, will the winter never end, will warmth I never find?" said Wolf softly. "For sunlight changed to snowfall when the world left me behind. I feel the cold no longer, for my feeling has all gone, yet though I wish to feel my hands, my warmth is all alone."

"Second stanza of "Will the Winter Never End," anonymous," said Sarali. "You only quote things when you're relating to them. What's going on?"

Wolf looked up, pain surging through her heart. "Memories," she whispered, and saw in her best friend's eyes the truth they both understood.

**A/N: This chapter was so sad! Poor R—I mean, Wolf! Of course, everyone but Leta and Sarali know who she really is. :P Reviews are fantastic. Chibi!s of the four characters if you review! Also, if anyone knows who Leta is like, I'll give you a chibi of that one, too. :D**


	3. Chapter 3

It began raining, as the pale twilight faded into night. Wolf sat silently, watching the rain and the swaying dance of the candle flames. Her eyes stung, and she tried to hold back the tears, but they still trickled slowly down her cheeks. Her face gleamed golden in the reflection, staring back at her with shining eyes from the dark window.

"Wolf, what are we waiting for and why are you crying?"

"He's supposed to be here." Her voice was about an octave too high. "He should be here by now."

"Oh." Sarali's voice had become very quiet. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Wolf whispered. "It's not your fault. I shouldn't have thought..."

She felt Sarali's hand on her own. "Wolf, he's _going_ to be here."

"He didn't come before," she whispered. "He didn't come then, so why should he come now?"

Even as she spoke, the door opened, letting in a shower of rain that made the candles flicker. He came in, just as she remembered him, from the messy hair to the long nose to the tan coat and brown suit and high-tops. He took his coat off and hung it on the hook by the door, then shook his head like a dog, spraying his companion—Leta—with water. She gave him an indignant look and put her rain jacket on another hook.

Wolf watched as Leta looked around the café, then met her gaze. The girl grabbed the Doctor's sleeve—not his hand, Wolf noticed—and pointed. He turned and saw Wolf, sitting there. Sarali had conveniently made herself absent. Wolf watched as he bit his lip, closed his eyes, and then walked towards her, hesitant, uncertain.

She met his eyes and nodded, and he almost ran to her. He put his hand on the back of the chair Sarali had vacated, but didn't sit.

"Er—hi," said Wolf. "You can—um—sit down, if you like."

He did. "Hi."

"Hi."

"Er—hi."

She gave him a sad half-smile. "What've you been doing?"

"Oh, you know, same old stuff. Only—it's not the same." He pulled out his tie and tugged on it, nervous. "What 'bout you?"

"Probably about the same as you've been doing," she said. "I mean, I'm Wolf. I'm a protector, like you are." She swallowed, and added, "It's a lot different, being alone. That is, I'm not alone, but—Sarali's just a companion."

He licked his lips. "So, ah...you've been...that is...have you...did you...were you the one leaving the trails through time?"

"Yeah."

"You, er...aren't covering up your tracks very well."

"I know."

"You...you doing that on purpose, then?"

"Yeah."

He ran his fingers through his still-wet hair. "Did you...did you want me to follow you?"

"Yeah, I did." She paused. "Wanted to talk to you, really, but whenever I went to say something, I couldn't do it, you know?"

"Do you...do you..." He shook his head slightly. "Do you like it?"

She twitched her shoulders. "'S alright, I s'pose."

He dropped his tie and rested his hands on the table. His eyes darted around, but he didn't look at her. "Er...d'you want something to eat?"

"I'm fine." She sighed. "I come in here a lot. Not to eat. Just to...sit. Think about things, yeah?"

"Yeah." He finally looked at her. For a brief moment, their eyes met, then he looked away. She stared at her hands on the table. Suddenly, she felt his hand on her face. brushing away the tears. "D'you...er..." He took a deep breath, then let it out, watching her. "D'you miss me?"

She hesitated, then nodded.

"Do you think about me, much, then?"

"Every day," she whispered. "Every second. You're still _there,_ in me, somewhere. Helping me. Telling me what to do."

His hand rested on both of hers, and he pulled back. She looked up, shook her head. "I don't mind," she said quickly.

Hesitantly, he put his hand back. After a moment, he said, "I'm sorry—Wolf. I'm so sorry."

"So am I," she said. "I wish I'd tried to find you. I wish I'd been braver, sooner. I wish--" She broke off. _No,_ she told herself. _No, don't think about that._

His fingers came up to her jaw, and he tilted her face up to his. "I haven't thought about you," he said. "I've tried not to. Every waking moment. But in my dreams...I still see you. Crying. It _hurts,_ R—Wolf."

She could feel his fingers creeping up, along the sides of her face. She slapped his hands away. "Stop it," she said.

He pulled back, looked away. "Sorry."

"Don't be like that, because it's not _like_ that." She took a deep breath. "I've been trying to forget. All the time. In my dreams, I'm being chased, and I call out for you, and you don't come. You never come. I've never felt so alone in all my life." Her voice broke, and she swallowed. "I just—I can't have your head in mine right now. I can't. It's too much. It hurts too much."

"'S alright," he said, smiling, but she could see another story in his eyes. His hands lay on the table, lifeless, inanimate. She reached out and took them, watching him intently. He pulled back, and, reluctantly, she let go.

Suddenly, he changed; sat up straighter, taller, head cocked to the side. He was looking across the café at Leta, who was doing something with her hands that Wolf couldn't see. The girl looked highly exasperated after about thirty seconds, then started mouthing something. Wolf tried to make it out, but couldn't.

She looked back at the Doctor. He was obviously not getting the message. She saw the exact moment when he figured it out, because he looked at him companion with a mixture of surprise and horror and sadness, and shook his head. He turned back towards Wolf, but didn't look at her. He just propped his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands.

It was several seconds before she realized he was shaking, and knew he was crying, or trying not to. She got up and walked around the table to kneel on the floor next to him. He ignored her, or didn't notice.

She gently took his hands away from his face, and he looked up at her. She brushed her hands over his cheeks and felt tears there. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm _so _sorry." Before she could think about it and tell herself exactly what a bad idea this was, she bent down and kissed him.

She could feel him relax, and she was both ecstatic and in torment at once. Joy and sorrow flooded into her, mingling into a bittersweet taste like rain deep inside her heart. He was moving, and she knew what he was about to do, and she didn't stop him.

Suddenly, she was so much more aware of him. His mind was in hers, their heads merged together. It hurt her and healed her, tore her apart and stitched her back together again. She had thought she had been mended, had healed on her own, her heart had been put back together crooked, and now he was fixing it, putting it right, healing her up properly.

She came forwards, poured her mind into him, fierce but gentle. She found the breaks, the tears, the unhealed injuries he'd left in himself, and she touched them with her power, and he was better.

She broke away, dizzy, her head spinning. She staggered back, and he caught her as she fell. She stared up at him, blinking, a bit confused. "Hello."

He grinned. "Hello yourself." He straightened her and let go. She swayed, and he steadied her until she shrugged his hand away and found she could stand on her own.

"Better?" he asked.

She nodded, shook her head, and then grinned. "Much," she said, and started laughing. "Better than I have been in a long time." There was really nothing to laugh at, but she couldn't stop. She was so happy. Almost without her conscious intent, she reached out and grabbed his hand. "Come on!" She pulled him towards the door, not letting him get his coat. He didn't resist. She ran out, into the rain, and looked up at the sky. The water poured down, a torrent, and she took his other hand and spun him around, around. He was laughing, too, with the rain falling on his face. Every simple pedestrian on the street watched them in amazement. Their laughter rang through the streets, echoing off the walls, reaching up to the stars that shone through the gaps in the clouds.

"Rose Tyler," breathed the Doctor, and she looked at him, her eyes wide and bright.

"Rose Tyler, he repeated, and both of his hearts were racing. "Don't you look absolutely fantastic?"

"What's fantastic is to be called that again," whispered Rose. "Ten years, and no one's called me that."

"Time to fix that, isn't it?" he said, grinning at her. He turned to see Sarali and Leta behind them. "Leta! And...what's-your-name? You must be Rose's companion? This is Rose! Rose, this is Leta. Oh, but of course, you've already met her." He raised his voice, calling to the whole street. "Everyone, listen up! This is Rose, everyone! Rose, meet—everyone!"

She shook her head in amazement. "Ten years, and you haven't changed a bit, have you?"

"Now, why would I want to do that?" he asked. "No fun in that."

"Come on," she said again, and pulled him forwards, grinning. They darted in and out of the rain as the storm cleared away, leaving more and more patches of clear sky. A cool breeze blew in from the east, carrying the scent of the ocean, salty and sweet at once. He could taste it as he laughed. He hadn't laughed so much in a long time. Ten years, in fact.

"I missed you," he breathed. Rose smiled and looked up at the now-clear sky.

"Look at how huge it is," she said quietly. "I look up at that sky and feel the world turning, and know how big the universe is, and I feel...free. Happy."

"Happy," he agreed. "Free. Both of us."

She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. As they walked, she murmured one last thing, almost to herself. "Not lonely anymore."

**A/N: Ooh! Fluffleluffleluff! How did you like it? Good? Bad? In-between? Reviews are fantastic!**


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